Becky Thomas - Recording Artist
Many people have asked me how I got started in Aboriginal Music so I thought I'd share my story with you:
Born at a young age in Bristol, Tennessee, I grew up mostly in North Carolina and Southern California. I started writing songs at age 12 after encountering some radical young people at a Tuesday night Bible study in La Sierra, California. Memories of those sweet times of praying for one another and singing song after song in Creator's Presence changed my life and kept me focused on my walk with Jesus and on music thru the tumultuous junior high and high school years.
After high school I landed at the University of the Nations at the Makapala campus on the Big Island of Hawaii. It was there I would meet, date and marry my Canadian sweetheart, Larry Thomas. Shortly after we found ourselves expecting our first child while taking some courses in Wiler, Switzerland. As we could not afford to have our baby overseas we returned to his hometown of Vernon, BC, Canada. After a short stint of living in Montana, we ended up raising our kids in the communities of Vernon and Williams Lake, BC. We were pastoring churches, doing some music and enjoying our little girls at every stage. From time to time I would be identified as native by the Lord and by other people, and I wondered when or how I would ever recover this part of my identity.
In May of 2006, I was at the Ness Lake Women’s Retreat in BC, Canada, when I experienced a life altering encounter with the Holy Spirit. My husband and I had been serving a wonderful Mennonite Brethren church for over five years, and I was taking a bit of a breather from my responsibilities as worship pastor. At the camp, I purchased a beautiful scarf and was impressed to give it to one of around 100 native women in attendance. I waited till the closing of the conference, and realizing I was about to miss an opportunity to obey the voice of the Spirit I turned and placed it around the neck of the first native lady I saw. As if the heavens opened we were both struck with the power of God. Fearing for her (she was a bit elderly and leaning on a cane) I threw out my arms to keep her upright and we fell into each other, weeping under the anointing. The Spirit whispered, “This is your mother” and I knew I was being instructed to honor older native women as part of my family. Upon letting go of her I was flung to the ground, unable to walk for some time.
I felt the Spirit impress on me His desire for me to take the hidden part of my identity and bring it to the front, becoming known for it without apology. This impression referred to the stories told me regarding my grandmothers. My "mamaw" (we are from eastern Tennessee) looked native in every way, but her mother was a platinum blond German. The story handed down thru my mother and me was that Mamaw's dad was Cherokee and a farmer. Mamaw had no contact with him after she was 12, when she became a servant of a doctor's family as a means of working her way thru nursing school. My brother and I also understood that my Great Grandmother on our paternal side was Cherokee. She too had the beautiful brown skin my other grandmother shared.
I absorbed these stories as an important part of my identity. Being Cherokee was important to me and I always considered other native people to be "my people". Growing up in the North American white culture I did not often have the chance to rub shoulders with Native Americans but I was often asked if I was part Indian or Mexican. Friends considered me a white girl, and not knowing any other way, I accepted the culture I was part of and lived as such. A shift occurred on that gym floor as I was confronted with the reality that I had somehow crossed over, and would no longer live as caucasian.
This prompted a gentle identity crisis. Gentle in that as I began to make friends with other native people in our small city I began to make peace with myself. Personality traits viewed as negative in church board meetings were inherent values in native cultures - values I had unconsciously adhered to my whole life. I no longer tried to conform to what I now see as a western mold. Breaking out caused the “crisis” as I no longer fit the role of a mainstream worship pastor. My worship began to flow from places previously untouched, with new sounds, rhythms and movements. Both my husband and I ended up resigning our pastoral roles to follow the Lord in a new path and adventure. Embracing this identity has truly been a step of faith for both of us.
Our “Jesus Way” adventure has included a “little house on the prairie” in the inner city of Saskatoon, SK. At the time of writing this, I have been so blessed by my Creator Father and the people that have surrounded and accepted me. The Canadian Gospel Music Association awarded my first attempts at indigenous worship expressions with four Covenant award nominations in 2008. First Nations friends have been gracious, gifting me with regalia so that I can go before people “properly dressed”. (More about that on the “links page”!). Our congregation at Courts of Praise Foursquare Gospel Church has evolved into a multicultural congregation who accept native instruments, songs and traditional dress as legitimate expressions of worship. Elder Billy Poole and Elsie Pierre, with permission from Chief Dennis Izony of Tsay Keh Dene, BC have shared both traditional stories and the historic events surrounding their survival for my first story song album “Miracles of the North”. Kelly Parker adopted me into his Turtle Island Music family, producing the gospel CD, “Sacred Ground” for me. Like “a la mode” on a pie, our new denomination, ordained me in my new regalia to the sound of native drums and chants. Meanwhile, my husband, Larry continues to pursue his calling as a lead pastor, at times donning his own ribbon shirt in demonstration of his support for the First Peoples and the people who gifted him.
I still have much to learn on this journey and am grateful for patient friends and teachers. I feel a an immense responsiblity as a pastor and itinerant minister to create safe places where indigenous people are free to come before Jesus using our unique ways of worship, no longer forced to conform to a pattern or liturgy that Jesus never required and that doesn't fit or adequately express our hearts. Like other native brothers and sisters, I am reclaiming the dignity and beauty of the First Peoples/Native Americans as an offering of worship to the One who gives us life.
The Jesus I read about in the Bible had brown skin, was from an indigenous tribe called “Judah”, and lived under Roman occupation. This same Jesus took time to encourage a woman of mixed blood - a cultural taboo on all counts - and she may have been the most undeserving and confused character in the Bible (John 4 - the Samaritan woman at the well)! I hope this is as encouraging to you as it is to me. Whether you are white, black, brown or purple or a mix like me, you are loved by Him, created with a purpose, future and a hope. ("I know the plans I have for you, to prosper you, to give you a future and a hope and not to harm you". Jeremiah 29:11). If my story has touched you in any way, or if you would like more information on how to walk the Jesus Way, please go to the contact page and drop me a line. I would love to hear from you!